Charles Kopp is no stranger to presidential politics and helping local campaigns for national candidates. He was on Ronald Reagan's finance team in 1980 and '84. He was the Pennsylvania state chairman for George H.W. Bush in '88 and Bob Dole in '96. Now, he's taken on Mitt Romney, someone who he hadn't even met until the fall. Kopp, special counsel at Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen in Philadelphia, is Romney's state chairman. We tracked him down yesterday for his thoughts on the former Massachusetts governor and the overall race. An interesting aside: Romney's finance chairman in the state, Kopp said, is Rob Bickhart, who helped Rick Santorum amass a $25 million campaign war chest last year. Here's the full interview.

Why Mitt Romney?

I could have supported any one of the three [GOP frontrunners]. The reason I ended up with Mr. Romney was a friend of mine from Boston who is Romney’s northeast finance chairman who I have known for years called me last October and told me that the governor would like to come into Pennsylvania – he said, "He really doesn’t know a lot of people, maybe you could get 15 or 20 business people, community leaders, just a meet and greet." … I said I’d be glad to do it. … I got 15 or 20 people together. The meeting lasted about an hour and he stayed another hour with me and some other people. I was so impressed with the guy that I said to my friend, "This was a set up. You knew that if I spent two hours with the guy I would be taken by him." And I was.

What impressed you about him?

I think he has got the whole package. He is so well informed on the issues that it is amazing. He draws on his experience from being governor of Massachusetts and his private sector experience and his Olympics experience. When he talks about energy policy or health care policy or whatever, he rattles off details and plans and specifics like I have rarely heard a politician do. He really knows the nitty gritty of everything. It is his nature. That is part of it – I was impressed. Secondly his background impressed me. Very honorable guy, no skeletons, just clean as a whistle. Midwesterner by birth really. And finally, you have to also consider electability. You can have the greatest candidate in the world, but if he can’t get elected he is not going to do anybody any good. And I thought that Mitt Romney would be a very electable candidate in these times. He is a fresh face. He has private sector experience. He has shown an ability to deal with people who have different philosophies than he does. He was governor of Massachusetts, a Republican governor with an 85 percent legislature that was Democrat and he got a lot done in Massachusetts for universal health care.

I think that is what we need now. Someone who can put divergent elements together for the betterment of everybody. In the global situation we are now in. And finally on electabilty, the guy looks like a movie star. That is not going to hurt.

You helped organize an event for Romney on March 20 in Philadelphia. How did that go?

We had it at the Union League. We wanted to take advantage of his warm personality so that people could see him in a small setting. We had three separate sessions with different constituencies. We called it a round-table discussion because we wanted people to participate. We anticipated about 25-30 at each roundtable. That is what we got at two of the three. In the third, which was business leaders, we anticipated 25, we got 71. This was a get-to-know him. In fact we had to change the room in the Union League because we couldn’t fit 71 people in the room. It went great. Everyone there was just bowled over. I’ve been to a lot of these, I’ve been in this business for 30 years. Usually you get a group after it is over complaining about something. This time I got none of that. I think his personality just overwhelms you.

Romney is far behind in Pennsylvania polling at this point. In the latest Quinnipiac University poll he received 5 percent of support among GOP candidates. How come?

That will change over time. Pennsylvania is a state that he really isn’t very well known. He hasn’t spent much time here. We figure that in time when they get to know him, they will like him. It is not the worst thing in the world either that when the public starts focusing on this, he will be the new face.

Considering Pennsylvania probably won’t move up the date of its primary election from April 22, Romney probably won’t be spending much time in the state though, right?

If they don’t change the date then I don’t think so. I think what he is doing and what most candidates are doing is the old formula: Iowa and New Hampshire.

Are you his point person in the state as far as fundraising?

I’m the state chairman. His finance person in the state is Rob Bickhart, who you probably will remember as Rick Santorum’s finance director.

How do you rate the GOP’s chances right now? Do you look at it being an uphill climb to win this election?

I think the climate right now favors the Democrats. On the other hand, it is a long way until Nov. 2008 and I think that of all the offices in the land, the presidency is one where there is more of an inclination to vote for the man rather than the party. I don’t think people voted for Ronald Reagan because he was a Republican or Bill Clinton because he was a Democrat. I think they voted for those guys because those guys captured the attention and loyalty of the public. … It is the man and the woman and the ideas and the vision.

What issues do you think should dominate the presidential race?

I think there are a couple major, major issues and then there are a lot of other ones. The biggest one of all is security and the global war on terrorism. Iraq is one part of it but the problems go well beyond Iraq. We are not done with the problem even if we left Iraq tomorrow. That’s why I have a great respect for Mitt Romney. He has what I consider the most realistic plan for global terrorism that I have heard and it is practical it is business like. It is not just I’m a tough guy. That’s the biggest – national security.

The next biggest is health care. If you look at the polls you’ll see those two issues.

On health care specifically, what do you want to see the candidates talk about?

I want to see the candidates talk about a plan whereby health care becomes affordable – I’m not sure you can have it for all Americans – but almost, while at the same time not jeopardizing the quality of care.

Universal health care has been floated for years and seems to be coming up again in this campaign. Is it just a pipe dream?

The devil is in the details. If you say universal care like Canada has, I’m not for that because the quality of the medical care is not as good as the United States. If you say universal health care, whereby you come up with some creative system where quality stays the same but the costs are reduced through a combination of public-private cooperation, then I am for universal health care. It depends what the plan is.

Were you surprised by Romney’s first-quarter fundraising total of $23 million, which beat all other GOP candidates?

Yes. I knew we were doing well because I’m on the national finance committee, so we get reports. But I did not know – I’m not even sure the campaign knew – that we were doing as well as we were doing. We got more than we thought we were going to get on the Internet, which is a good thing.

How much?

I think it was around $4 million or $5 million.

We’ll obviously find out in a week or so, when the details of the finance reports are revealed, but do you know what his support from Pennsylvania will clock in at?

Small because we have yet to have our first fundraiser – the other events were just meet-and-greets – and Pennsylvania is a state where no one knew him very well. We will have one this quarter and my guess is we will do very, very well if you can base it on the reaction that we got from that March 20th session.